Entries for the 2017 Wicked Young Writer Awards have now closed!

All winners will win four tickets to see the London production of WICKED at the
Apollo Victoria Theatre and an opportunity to meet cast members after the show
along with an exclusive backstage tour.

Our younger categories (5-7, 8-10 and 11-14) also win:

A subscription to young people’s current affairs magazine, The Week Junior

£50 worth of books/eBooks tokens to spend,

£100 worth of books for the winners' school library donated by Hachette Children's Books.

A bespoke Wicked workshop for their school.

Our older categories (15-17, 18-25 and FOR GOOD: Award for Non-Fiction) also
win:

A self-publishing package from Spiderwize for the 15-17 year olds and the 18-25 year old fiction prizes.

A work experience placement at The Week Junior magazine for the FOR GOOD: Award for Non-Fiction winner.

£50 worth of books/eBooks tokens to spend.

The 3 schools that submit the most entries also get creative writing workshops and all
finalists’ entries get printed in the anthology.

HISTORY

The "prestigious Wicked Young Writer Awards" (The Times) was established by the long-running musical WICKED to link the important messages of the production with a competition that would inspire young people to use creative writing to look at life a little differently. Since its launch in 2010, we have received over 20,000 entries to the award.

The Award recognises excellence in writing, encourages creativity, and helps develop writing talent in young people between 5-25 years old from all backgrounds and areas of the UK.

In 2016, a sixth category, the FOR GOOD: Award for Non-Fiction was introduced to encourage 15-25 year olds to write essays or articles that celebrate the positive impact that people can have on each other, their community and the world we live in.
The category celebrates the WICKED: FOR GOOD programme, which supports charitable causes at the heart of the stage musical.

Each year, we hold a very special prize giving event at the Apollo Victoria Theatre for all 120 of our finalists. The event is attended by our judges, including head judge Cressida Cowell, the WICKED cast and a range of special guests and includes special performances, Q&As and rehearsed readings of the winning entries, performed by WICKED's principles. All finalists also receive a printed copy of their entry as part of the annual Wicked Young Writer Awards Anthology.

The Award is proud to partner with National Literacy Trust.

OUR PATRON AND JUDGES

The Patron of the Awards is HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, and they are championed by Honorary Judge Michael Morpurgo(War Horse), and Head Judge Cressida Cowell(How to Train Your Dragon). Judges for the 2017 Wicked Young Writer Awards also include Nina Nannar and Laura Dockrill. Judge for the FOR GOOD: Award for Non-Fiction will be Anna Bassi.